Sunday 19 February 2012 15.44 EST
First published on Sunday 19 February 2012 15.44 EST

The evisceration of endurance track racing in the Olympics has left the 4,000 metres team pursuit as the most prestigious men's distance title. Add to that the fact that in Beijing the Great Britain victory and world record was a defining moment, factor in a longstanding, if friendly, rivalry with Australia and the pressures on the British quartet can be imagined. Yesterday another round went to the Australians, who have had the upper hand since Beijing, but the Britons are convinced they can close the gap by August.

The margin in qualifying on Thursday had been 0.6sec but once the first kilometre had been covered, the final here never looked like slipping away from the Australian quartet of Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alexander Edmondson and Michael Hepburn. Every fraction of a second clawed back by Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh was cheered to the echo by a crowd who were fired up by the sprint and keirin exploits of Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

All that enthusiasm could not compensate for the margin at the finish: the Australian time of 3min 54.615sec, the third fastest time for the distance ever and a national record for them, was 1.7sec quicker. That increases the likelihood that the world record set by the British in Beijing will fall this year but which team will manage it remains to be seen. The Australians are a youthful quartet, if over-dependent on the super-strong Jack Bobridge, and they will improve as well.

The British quartet's challenge faltered, literally, only three laps from home when they came close to disaster. Burke – who was not at his best having suffered from shingles a couple of weeks ago – slowed fractionally, Kennaugh "parked up" as team pursuit slang puts it and Thomas rubbed his front wheel into the Manxman's back tyre. It could have been a high-speed pile-up but Thomas held his bike up, although he was forced to swing up the banking and "high-five Pete's mum and dad in the stands", as he put it.

As a result he was unable to put in the full lap or lap and a half turn he had hoped for at the finish and he crossed the line with more energy left than he would have wished. Gold went to the world champions, who will be favourites on home soil at the world championships in April, but the British could console themselves with their progress since winning gold in the European Championships in October with what Clancy termed "a poor ride".

Thomas is convinced that once he and Kennaugh have put in many hard miles road racing in Europe they will be strong enough to provide the depth to go with Clancy's and Burke's pure speed out of the blocks. Thomas, so strong in Beijing, is still returning to his best form after a late finish to last season. "We will go to Melbourne to win, or at least to close the gap," said Clancy. "We are in at least as good a place as we were at this point in the last Olympic cycle. But it's not going to be a walkover like it was in Beijing."

Great Britain's women's endurance team had enjoyed a near-perfect three days, with Jo Rowsell's gold in Saturday's pursuit following Friday's gold and world record in the team pursuit for her, Laura Trott, Dani King and Wendy Houvenaghel. Trott came close to giving them a clean sweep by winning the omnium, the six-discipline event in which she was junior world champion and is currently the European title holder. She fell short of the gold medal by two points but bronze was more than respectable.

An elfin individual who, by her own admission "talks too much", Trott is surely destined to be one of the stars of this August. Having finished a surprisingly poor 17th in the points race on Saturday, she hauled herself back into contention with a dramatic victory in the elimination race as Saturday's session drew to an end. There has been much discussion about the inclusion of this event, in which the last rider on every lap is eliminated – it is a favourite at local track leagues and Six Day races – because it has a strong element of chance to it.

However, it is a crowd-pleaser of the highest order and Trott rode it in a way guaranteed to delight onlookers: time after time she slipped behind, giving the impression she might be about to be eliminated, then she would sprint past at what seemed like the very last moment. It took nerves of steel and a fine turn of speed and it had the fans on their feet to the end.

That pulled her up into third overall going into Sunday and she strengthened her grip on a medal with a strong second place in the pursuit, event four. That left the scratch race, where she ran home in eighth – slipping down to fourth – and the 500-metre time trial, which she won. It cannot be long before she takes a senior world title to accompany the junior rainbow jersey she won in 2010.

Hits

Women's endurance

Gold and world record for King, Houvenaghel, Trott and Rowsell in team pursuit, gold for Rowsell in individual, Trott bronze in omnium

Verdict Hard to better

Women's sprinters

Gold and world record in team sprint for Pendleton and Varnish, Pendleton taking a match off Anna Meares in the match sprint and then running well in the early stages of the keirin in spite of tired legs, Varnish fifth in sprint

Verdict More to come from both

Sir Chris Hoy

Gold in keirin and a dominant performance in the sprint: fastest qualifier, followed by a dramatic two-one quarter-final win over Grégory Baugé, the best in the world in recent years

Verdict A smidgen away from his best

The crowd

Created an atmosphere that pushed the home riders all the way to the line.

Verdict GB will have an extra x-factor

Misses

Men's team sprint

The conundrum over which riders in what order has yet to be resolved. Jason Kenny seems certain to be installed at man one

Verdict Getting closer but some big decisions to be made

Men's omnium

A relative one, as the scheduling meant that Ed Clancy could not ride as omnium came before the team pursuit final. Ben Swift did not have the raw power for the timed events and points

Verdict Clancy should ride at the world championship

Jason Kenny

A bronze in the team sprint and an exit in the sprint quarter-final is not what he would have wanted. Hoy has the edge again in the race for the sprint slot in London